Sturm: Xs and Os - 3 Things from Atlanta

[coogrfan]

He's a backup quarterback. What do you expect him to hit every reciever that's open? If he was able to do that Weeden would be a starter. He's not.

Is it too much to expect our qb to let the routes develop before he decides to check down?

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Also having listened to Romo talk this offseason, I think people are a little cavalier in their attitude about how easy it is to look a guy off and snap back and throw accurately back down the middle of the field.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Since everyone is entrenched in their position, may I ask

CAN WE ALL AGREE THAT THE LAST DRIVE - DOWN 11 WITH 3 MINUTES TO GO - DALLAS SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR DOWNFIELD RECEIVERS OR SIDELINE ROUTES TO PRESERVE CLOCK?

Does anyone think this is the time to checkdown in the middle of the field?

SINCE WE ARE USING SHOUT FONTS CAN WE REVIEW WHAT HAPPENED TWO WEEKS AGO IN A SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCE?

 

[TheDude]

SINCE WE ARE USING SHOUT FONTS CAN WE REVIEW WHAT HAPPENED LAST WEEK IN A SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCE?

Feel free...floor is yours

 

[Bullflop]

When Weeden was asked in the post-game interview whether it was the staff or himself that decided to stick with the short game as he did, he responded "both." I'm confident he was telling the truth. Probably, in New Orleans vs. the Saints, he'll be instructed to go downfield if he feels reasonably safe in doing so. Whether he adheres to that or not if he's told to do so remains to be seen. It should prove intriguing to see exactly what transpires. In any event, I'd certainly hate to think that both the staff and BW learned nothing from that loss vs. Atlanta.

 

[Zimmy Lives]

Just wait for our in denial Weeden apologists to also attempt to discredit Sturm for seeing what everyone else see's!

Anyone can look at the game tape and see the obvious, outside receivers open, seams open but the ball is usually checked down or thrown away.

I don't think those people (in bold) exist. No one in their right mind would call Weeden a quality starter.

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

Feel free...floor is yours

• J.Brown kicks 57 yards from NYG 35 to DAL 8. T.Patmon pushed ob at DAL 28 for 20 yards (T.Wade).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at DAL 28
  (1:29) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short left to L.Dunbar to NYG 48 for 24 yards (L.Collins; U.Unga).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at NYG 48
  (1:04) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to L.Dunbar to NYG 32 for 16 yards (J.Casillas).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at NYG 32
  43) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short middle to J.Witten to NYG 19 for 13 yards (U.Unga).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at NYG 19
  23) (No Huddle, Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short middle to C.Beasley.
  
  
• 2nd and 10 at NYG 19
  17) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to T.Williams ran ob at NYG 11 for 8 yards.
  
  
• 3rd and 2 at NYG 11
  Jason Witten 11 Yd pass from Tony Romo (Dan Bailey Kick)
  

CAN WE ALL AGREE THAT THE LAST DRIVE - DOWN 6 WITH 1 MINUTES TO GO - DALLAS SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR DOWNFIELD RECEIVERS OR SIDELINE ROUTES TO PRESERVE CLOCK?

 

[TheDude]

• J.Brown kicks 57 yards from NYG 35 to DAL 8. T.Patmon pushed ob at DAL 28 for 20 yards (T.Wade).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at DAL 28
  (1:29) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short left to L.Dunbar to NYG 48 for 24 yards (L.Collins; U.Unga).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at NYG 48
  (1:04) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to L.Dunbar to NYG 32 for 16 yards (J.Casillas).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at NYG 32
  43) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short middle to J.Witten to NYG 19 for 13 yards (U.Unga).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at NYG 19
  23) (No Huddle, Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short middle to C.Beasley.
  
  
• 2nd and 10 at NYG 19
  17) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to T.Williams ran ob at NYG 11 for 8 yards.
  
  
• 3rd and 2 at NYG 11
  Jason Witten 11 Yd pass from Tony Romo (Dan Bailey Kick)

CAN WE ALL AGREE THAT THE LAST DRIVE - DOWN 6 WITH 1 MINUTES TO GO - DALLAS SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR DOWNFIELD RECEIVERS OR SIDELINE ROUTES TO PRESERVE CLOCK?

ALMOST - down 6 and down 11 are a tad different last time i ciphered. Can we agree on that?


And there was a sideline route to WIllimans in there

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

ALMOST - down 6 and down 11 are a tad different last time i ciphered. Can we agree on that

I still think you get the point. Weeden could have played it better but the ship had sailed that previous drive. You will recall the DL of DLaw, Crawford, Hayden, and Crawford getting wrecked?

Is that the point of making Weeden the whipping boy? Ostriching?

 

[TheDude]

I still think you get the point. Weeden could have played it better but the ship had sailed that previous drive. You will recall the DL of DLaw, Crawford, Hayden, and Crawford getting wrecked?

Is that the point of making Weeden the whipping boy? Ostriching?

I've acknowledged the Defense lost the game primarily, maybe not in this thread. But the last drive counters the narrative and really is alarming at the give up sack and quit in general. There was likely a 1% chance of scoing, converting a 2pt , onside and FG to tie, but the way it was played it might as well just been a series of handoffs up the middle

 

[Tenkamenin]

Drives you nuts!

He went 22-26, what's the problem? (sarcasm)

 

[FuzzyLumpkins]

I've acknowledged the Defense lost the game primarily, maybe not in this thread. But the last drive counters the narrative and really is alarming at the give up sack and quit in general. There was likely a 1% chance of scoing, converting a 2pt , onside and FG to tie, but the way it was played it might as well just been a series of handoffs up the middle

I am going to predict that the narrative after the next loss will be leadership.

 

[31smackdown]

The sad thing is they run a similar play but he should notice that the safety is on the other hash the second time due to their alignment and checked the other seam route where Bease has the clean lane to open field. Either way, these were just two examples of Weeden locking in and having no real lookoff or fake.If you know you are throwing the checking down at least hold the LB deeper first. Even his play action is sad.

 

[Sydla]

At this point, I can't stop laughing at all the attempts to give Weeden a pass for this past weekend.

He wasn't very good. Not sure why people have such a hard time accepting that.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

Is it too much to expect our qb to let the routes develop before he decides to check down?

Let's see if he progresses before we throw Weeden under the bus... meanwhile the defense should buy him a month's worth of steak dinners for taking all the blame.

 

[ElGatoGrande]

At this point, I can't stop laughing at all the attempts to give Weeden a pass for this past weekend.

He wasn't very good. Not sure why people have such a hard time accepting that.

your criticism is shaky and misplaced, that's why,,,

 

[Sydla]

your criticism is misplaced, that's why,,,

Except it's not. I've said about 400 times on this board that the defense was also a huge reason we lost that game.

I come from a position that you don't have to spend your time trying to lay the blame at the feet of just one person or group when discussing a loss. A loss can be the result of multiple failures. And in the Falcons game, the defense was a major factor in the loss. So was the QB. The offense managed 50 ********* yards and only one or two real first downs in the entire second half.

I know the QB is a backup and I shouldn't expect Tony Romo out there. But I also don't think it's wrong to expect him to make some fairly simple throws that get the ball down the field, especially when the defense was giving those to you. He did no such thing.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

• J.Brown kicks 57 yards from NYG 35 to DAL 8. T.Patmon pushed ob at DAL 28 for 20 yards (T.Wade).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at DAL 28
  (1:29) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short left to L.Dunbar to NYG 48 for 24 yards (L.Collins; U.Unga).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at NYG 48
  (1:04) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to L.Dunbar to NYG 32 for 16 yards (J.Casillas).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at NYG 32
  43) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short middle to J.Witten to NYG 19 for 13 yards (U.Unga).
  
  
• 1st and 10 at NYG 19
  23) (No Huddle, Shotgun) T.Romo pass incomplete short middle to C.Beasley.
  
  
• 2nd and 10 at NYG 19
  17) (Shotgun) T.Romo pass short right to T.Williams ran ob at NYG 11 for 8 yards.
  
  
• 3rd and 2 at NYG 11
  Jason Witten 11 Yd pass from Tony Romo (Dan Bailey Kick)

CAN WE ALL AGREE THAT THE LAST DRIVE - DOWN 6 WITH 1 MINUTES TO GO - DALLAS SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR DOWNFIELD RECEIVERS OR SIDELINE ROUTES TO PRESERVE CLOCK?

and this worked because the Giants defense had to defend the whole field, not just 5 yards in front of the line of scrimmage and between the hash marks. Atlanta shrunk the field they had to defend because Weeden for what ever reason would not challenge them in any other part of the field. If the coaches didn't trust Weeden to make these necessary throws, then they should not have kept on the roster. If Weeden refused to make the throws, then again, shame on the coaches for keeping him on the roster.

 

[Idgit]

Your Weeden defense is bordering on bizarre at this point.

So the tape is being misinterpreted. Got it. So all those routes that were run deeper than 10 yards were just decoy routes. That the game plan was to simply ignore any WR or TE running more than 10 yards down the field and instead force the ball to the TBs and slot WRs and TEs running short routes. So when Witten is running wide open down the seam and then throws up his hands as to why his QB never noticed him, he should have known better - that the "plan" was to just throw the ball to Dunbar on a 3 yard in all along.

Well, ****. Apparently Brandon Weeden is being held back by an incompetent coaching staff that wouldn't let him show off his ability to throw the ball down the field and instead forced him to throw a **** ton of 3-5 yard passes.

Guess what? If all of this is true, then we have bigger problems than we thought.

I'd be happy to debate it with you, but you're going to have to do a better job of understanding my argument if you want me to do that, because your description above is silly and not at all what I've repeatedly said in the thread.

 

[Idgit]

Since everyone is entrenched in their position, may I ask

CAN WE ALL AGREE THAT THE LAST DRIVE - DOWN 11 WITH 3 MINUTES TO GO - DALLAS SHOULD BE LOOKING FOR DOWNFIELD RECEIVERS OR SIDELINE ROUTES TO PRESERVE CLOCK?

Does anyone think this is the time to checkdown in the middle of the field?

I agree that, except for the yelling, this is right in principle. At that point in the game, it was clear that we'd lost since I hadn't seen anything we'd done to that point that suggested the offense we'd fielded that day was capable of back to back scores in 3 mins. So, yeah, I'd have preferred to see them play the probabilities, but I wasn't under any illusion it was going to be successful.

We went into the game with an intentionally constrained game plan for the offense. And, yes, we really did like the matchup of Dunbar on a linebacker. Make the easy completions, move the chains, control the clock, and trust the defense not to eat off it's own limbs and then complain while bleeding out. There really wasn't an outcome for a Brandon Weeden-led team to dazzle us all with a downfield ariel attack into the teeth of the 3rd and 26 coverage and win.

And really, if the guy looks at the coverage on Witten and decides it's safer to check down, that's ok with me. I much prefer the limited dink and dunk to having him lose a game throwing bad passes. We saw him muff almost this same throw a series later. Checkdowns aren't the end of the world if you don't get holding penalties and don't blow your blocks on run downs the three plays before. Interceptions, however, are never your friend.

This guy isn't a sushi chef. Hand him a wooden spoon and let him stir the pot. I don't even want him adding the ingredients. Just don't let it burn on the bottom, don't sneeze in the sauce, don't set yourself on fire, and we're good. Everybody else on the team is there to get the meal on the table. If they can't do it, we don't eat until the sushi chef comes back.